Clearview Teaching

Once upon a time, I found myself student teaching in a high school psychology class at Clearview Regional High School in Mullica Hill, New Jersey. Although nervous, I prepared and rehearsed my first lesson plan for an audience eight years my junior.

I stood center stage in the front of the class explaining watered down psychological theory. My lesson plan covered Carl Roger’s hierarchy of needs principle and Abraham Maslow’s concept of self-actualization. A wide-eyed female student sitting in the second row hung on my every word. The rest of the class acted generally receptive although any knowledge that I imparted invoked little class discussion.

The perfunctory ringing of the school bell ended class. While the high school seniors packed up their belongings, the same enthusiastic female approached me. She discreetly handed me a note then gave me an ear-to-ear humanistic smile reminiscent of any toothpaste commercial. I stuck the note in my pocket and never opened it until I got home. I paid the offering little mind although I could not imagine what encouraging words, if any, the note contained. Only two sentences littered the note although bold looping cursive handwriting filled half of a page. The student’s words literally jumped off the page for this newbie teacher.

Mr. Tornatore, you have a nice a$$.

Call me sometime at 555-3456.

Yours, Lacey.

A clear view student for sure, Lacey operated from her own hierarchy of needs.